Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) Chairman R S Sharma, while questioning the anti-Aadhaar campaigns by non-governmental organisations and civil society groups, said several multinational firms were being affected by Aadhaar since it was in conflict with their attempts to create their own database of users.

RS Sharma defended UIDAI’s decision to send the notice to CIS , saying there was no leakage from Aadhaar or decryption of biometric data from the UIDAI server. (IE)

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) Chairman R S Sharma, while questioning the anti-Aadhaar campaigns by non-governmental organisations and civil society groups, said several multinational firms were being affected by Aadhaar since it was in conflict with their attempts to create their own database of users.

“It’s making a mountain out of a molehill. There are motivated campaigns being launched. Various multinationals are getting affected. There are companies, which are creating their own identities. Someone has called it digital colonisation. The fingerprint scanners on smartphones can be easily used for authenticating Aadhaar but they don’t allow it. A lot of fraudulent or Benami transactions can go down because of Aadhaar,” Sharma was quoted as saying by Indian Express. Even though he refused to give details on these companies, remarks are an apparent reference companies like Google and Facebook.

The TRAI chief’s comment has come at a time when civil society groups have expressed concerns on issues like privacy and accountability that come from Centre’s increasing use of Aadhaar. Several petitions filed by those opposing what they believe is the unchecked use of Aadhaar is in Supreme Court currently.

The Centre for Internet & Society (CIS), Bengaluru-based NGO had released a report pointing out that 130 million Aadhaar numbers were leaked on several government portals. Later, it updated its report saying there were no “leaks” or “leakages” but a “public disclosure”. The UDAI had served a show-cause notice to it S, asking for explanations.

Sharma defended UIDAI’s decision to send the notice to CIS , saying there was no leakage from Aadhaar or decryption of biometric data from the UIDAI server. He also made a case for comprehensive data protection law in the country. “There is a need for a larger data protection law. In today’s digitally connected world, data protection law is a must. Data security, its protocols, rules, responsibilities, accountabilities, damage, payments, compensations, all these issues must come in that law,” he was quoted to have said by Indian Express.

A centralized and inter-linked biometric database like Aadhaar will lead to profiling and self-censorship, endangering freedom. Personal data gathered under the Aadhaar program is prone to misuse and surveillance. Aadhaar project has created a vulnerability to identi-ty fraud, even identi-ty theft. Easy harvesting of biometrics traits and publicly-available Aadhaar numbers increase the risk of impersonation, especially online and banking fraud. Centralized databases can be hacked. Biometrics can be cloned, copied and reused. Thus, BIOMETRICS CAN BE FAKED. High-resolution cameras can capture your fingerprints and iris information from a distance. Every eye hospital will have iris images of its patients. So another person can clone your fingerprints and iris images without your knowledge, and the same can be used for authentication. If the Aadhaar scheme is NOT STOPPED by the Supreme Court, the biometric features of Indians will soon be cloned, misused, and even traded.

Reply

R

Reader

Oct 9, 2017 at 3:04 pm

UK’s Biometric ID Database was dismantled. Why the United Kingdom's biometrics-linked National Identi-ty Card project to create a centralized register of sensitive information about residents similar to Aadhaar was scrapped in 2010?? The reasons were the massive threat posed to the privacy of people, the possibility of a surveillance state, the dangers of maintaining such a huge centralized repository of personal information, and the purposes it could be used for, and the dangers of such a centralized database being hacked. The other reasons were the unreliability of such a large-scale biometric verification processes, and the ethics of using biometric identification.

Reply

R

Reader

Oct 9, 2017 at 3:03 pm

The US Social Security Number (SSN) card has NO BIOMETRIC DETAILS, no photograph, no physical description and no birth date. All it does is confirm that a particular number has been issued to a particular name. Instead, a driving license or state ID card is used as an identification for adults. The US government DOES NOT collect the biometric details of its own citizens for the purpose of issuing Social Security Number. The US collects the fingerprints of only those citizens who are involved in any criminal activity (it has nothing to do with SSN), and the citizens of other countries who come to the US.

Reply

#

#AADHAARFAIL

Jun 2, 2017 at 4:18 am

AADHAAR is destined to fail, stan will collect all fingerprints by opening an Airtel customer center, print the fingerprint and use it for #AADHAAR pay authentication to clean all bank account. A rogue #AADHAAR agent from stan can cause iden y mayhem to the level, Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley, Ravi Shankar Prasad can not even imagine!

Reply

R

Ram Sharma

Jun 1, 2017 at 7:41 pm

Aadhaar is undoubtedly the biggest scam in Indian history affecting the lives of more than 1 billion people.
If the Modi regime really wanted to be above board, it should have first passed a comprehensive privacy & data security law BEFORE making Aadhaar mandatory.
That it has not done so exposes the Modi's regime's hypocrisy about fairplay in governance.
Governance by stealth has become the mantra.